Carnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs–March 2015 edition

Welcome to March 2015 editionofCarnival of Quality Management Articles and Blogs.

For the month, I chose to search articles for “Improving the manufacturing performance”. As can be expected, the available choice was so simply far too much to handle in one episode of our blog carnival. So, I have selected some of the representative articles:

2. Reward small failures. Productivity is a process so treat it like one. Allow staff to team up and try small experiments for boosting output, setting aside rewards for both victories and failures knowing that anything that moves the floor closer to achieving permanent gains is a win.

3. Reward efficiency. Don’t obsess over output at the expense of everything else. Structure rewards that allow employees to “bank” and use time saved via productivity enhancements as vacation or sick time.

4. Reward partnerships. More isn’t always better when it comes to developing and refining a manufacturing process, but there will always be appropriate moments to bring in outside experts.

5. Reward outcomes. Finally, remember the endgame. Identify tangible, measurable goals before embarking on any productivity-boosting campaign. Assign leaders to implement the plan and then get prepared to reward achievements.

In this paper, Apriso shows how to achieve enterprise-wide supply chain visibility, manufacturing synchronization, and control over efficiency through an integrated solution that directly addresses manufacturing competence.

Improving performance of production systems is a critical but often unstructured activity. To help managers convert ad hoc or trial & error improvement efforts into efficient and systematic reviews, we develop a diagnostic tree which decomposes a performance improvement objective into successively more concrete sub-objectives and finally into potential improvement strategies. Based on principles from the Operations Management literature, this tree is structured to enable a non-specialist to better understand the links between corrective actions and performance. It also provides an important foundation for a principles-based knowledge management system that couples the decision tree with a search engine for locating relevant documents within an intranet.

Plant managers can obtain major improvements in manufacturing performance by rising above the jargon and implementing two proven guiding principles that have stood the test of time : benchmarking and elimination of waste, particularly redusction in inventory and long cycle-times. The performance improvements should maintain profit margin and provide competitive advantage. Managers should also make a diagnosis first, before prescribing the appropriate improvement technique.

(Wherever a huge amount of data is being generated[ even when not on all of them on digital media]) Manufacturers (by) taking advantage of advanced analytics can reduce process flaws, saving time and money

The purpose of this thesis can be formulated in three research questions: How did the companies change their attitudes and behaviour as a result of understanding variation? How should a method to understand variation be implemented?, What aspects are important to consider when undertaking an implementation process?

Measurement is the first step in improvement. But while measuring is the process of quantification, its effect is to stimulate positive action……Performance measures can be grouped into two basic types: those that relate to results (outputs or outcomes such as competitiveness or financial performance) and those that focus on the determinants of the results (inputs such as quality, flexibility, resource utilization, and innovation). This suggests that performance measurement frameworks can be built around the concepts of results and determinants.

A new measurement and assessment framework, called Performance Factory (PerFact) and its current implementation state, is presented in this work. In addition, the Virtual Factory Framework Project (VFF) is presented. VFF is in line with the concept of the Factory of the Future and envisions the development of a Virtual Factory in order to support and improve the real factory. This in turn allows and promotes the application of PerFact by selectively assessing the real performance or the performance of planning scenarios.

In the second part, we have Innovate on Purposefrom among the Influential Voices Blogroll Alumni. Here are the previous posts on this blog:

And then move over to ASQ TV Episodes: A New Look at Risk Management – Learn about the role of risk in the ISO 9001: 2015 revision, assess the root causes of risk via a fishbone diagram, discover a risk management formula, and learn how the toy company LEGO successfully manages risk.

Anshuman Tiwari is a quality expert with experience as an industrial engineer, quality consultant, and program manager in industries ranging from textiles to financial services. Based in Bengaluru, India, he blogs at Quality—The Unfair Advantage, wherein he includes reviews, articles, views, news, jobs, etc. on quality.

I look forward to your active participation in enriching the blog carnival as we pursue our Improvement journey ………….